All Forum Posts by: Kenneth Huddleston

Hi. My name is kenny and i am 16 years old and live in Portland, OR. The more i have though about it the more a typical career seems like a TERRIBLE idea. I have been trying to get into investing for quite a while; but although my age comes with a few advantages i also have many disadvantages and some guidance on how to go about things.

Advantages:

I have time!(Though i'd rather not use it!)

Being 16 i have plenty of years ahead of me, but because i am an impetuous, impatient teenager, and am at peace with that, i want to get going ASAP. I am looking at many forms of investing including real estate, stocks, and internet marketing.

I have read DOZENS of books on real estate, stocks, internet marketing, and just about everything else.

Disadvantages

I am on a teenager's salary;

For those who haven't guessed, that salary is NON-EXISTENT. I am trying to get a job to work around this, but in this economy that's easier said than done. Don't get me wrong, i'll keep trying, but i do not want to pin everything on it.

I am not the greatest peoples person;

Don't get me wrong, i'm not an anti-social weirdo but when it comes to things like cold-calling and door to door salesmanship, the ideas TERRIFY ME. I am constantly working on my people skills and have vastly improved compared to where i was, but that still terrifies me.

Legalities;

Being 16 years old, the number of things i can do are EXTREMELY limited in the eyes of the law. As far as america is concerned until you are 18 you get to eat, breathe, and go to school but not much more. The loopholes i need to jump through are just ridiculous. I have relatives who are willing to support me, more or less, but this has still proved to be a major obstacle.

So what i am asking is exactly how do i go about investing given my age? What is most important to me is that i can start ASAP, not just study, sit and wait until i am 18. That is one of the reasons i am studying all methods of investing; as well as because i find certain methods of investing being most applicable at certain stages in my career. For instance, say i start with real estate and establish myself with a good monthly income through rentals; i can not only use that money to expand my real estate portfolio but to build other businesses in other fields that require more money to start off. My goal is to be making 1000 per month passive income AT LEAST by the time i graduate high school. What should i do to cover my disadvantages, apply my advantages, and get going? People have mentioned finding a mentor and i've kept that in mind; that being said i have no idea how to go about it.

Sweet. Its nice to see more people my age on this site! I'm 16 years old and am looking at getting in real estate investing for similar reasons. I can't stand the idea of working for 30+ years for no reason but to make ends meat. As it is i am studying many forms of investing including real estate, internet marketing, and a few others.  Good luck!

Thanks for the advice guys! I have a few more questions though. As far as finding a mentor or someone who would give me a job in the real estate industry, exactly how would you have me go about it? I am definitely open to getting a mentor, but at the same time its easier said then done. Second, although i will keep learning probably for the rest of my career, my big thing is i am looking for methods of investing that will let me start building income ASAP, as i mentioned above. Any suggestions?

Hey, my name is Kenny. I am 16 years old and currently in high school. Because this is the time in your life when you are most pressured into making "decisions" about your future, investing has appealed to me for quite a while now. I put quotes around decisions because its become, in many ways, almost an unwritten law that you go to college, get a job, work for 30+ years, and then retire, grow old, and die. The more i thought about this traditional path the less it appeals to me. I myself do not wish to spend 2/3 or more of my life in a a dead end job that does nothing for me but make ends meet.

Although i've always had a mild interest in investing and business, it had been stifled for quite a while by all the traditional knowledge of it. This traditional knowledge is that you should invest in mutual funds or commodities and in 20 or 30 years, it could lead to a size-able bank account. Now i have always been avid about long term planning, but 20 to 30 years was a little outside of my scope, then i started reading autobiographies of real estate investors, warren buffett, and other instructional books that proved to me this traditional method is not law. Now i am studying avidly on how to start building passive income NOW. Real Estate is one of the methods i came across, but the only issue i find there is that implementing a real estate "career" as a teenager is RIDICULOUSLY hard, or at least as i understand it.

So what i am here to ask, is if you guys have any hints on how i can start building income, preferably passive, now. My goals are to have built up 1000 dollars of passive income by the time i have left high school. The reason i want to do this is that, for one, it will prove the path, for me and for others, in that it shows that i know what i am doing. Also, when i turn 18, i intend to get a realtors license and work as one for the sake of gaining market knowledge as well as funds to grow my investments both in real estate and in other areas. Since being a realtor is a business like any other and has startup costs, the 1000 dollars would help with that. I also hope to have the OPTION of retirement by the age of 25. I may never retire, but i want the freedom to say that i can. Keep in mind i am open to all forms of investments; real estate, internet marketing, etc. Whats important to me is that i can start NOW. I realize that, at least in some ways, it may be smarter to wait a few years and just focus on learning, but to that i have two responses. 1) I am an impatient, impetuous teenager. I am at peace with that. 2) I have read dozens of books and feel i am at the point where i have learned everything books will teach me and i need to get going. Thanks for listening to my, admittedly long, rant; any advice is appreciated! 

Hey, Damon. If your wanting my own opinion on the matter? I think there are several possible scenarios. First off, you said your primary issue is your parents forcing you to go to college, right? Well the way i see it since they aren't paying they don't have much room to complain. The first thing i would try to do is convince them of your investment strategy, show them how your thinking, and see if they will loosen the reigns a little. Maybe you could force them into a compromise? For instance you put off college for a year and if you start making money at investing they back off, but if you aren't you agree to go to college? If they get too picky, however, you can just lay down the law, and this is coming from a 16 year old! My point here is that in the long run you are not your parents and if you want to take a different path its your right to do so. Now i would be diplomatic about how you go about it because they are still your parents and they can make life for you a living hell, but the point still stands.

The second topic would be that of becoming a real estate agent. Now i think becoming a real estate agent is a great idea because you learn the market, have access to materials that no one else does, and if you do it right can make a pretty penny while your doing so. Realtor's typically get, on average, a 1% commission on the value of the house, give or take, and this can add up to a lot if your doing several deals a month. I've heard that the good Realtor's can make upwards of 200k per year, and it takes no genius to invest 200k. This could also be a potential negotiating point for your parents, since it does require some college hours and is thought of as an actual career. And if you do choose to go to college, being a real estate agent could still work out as they typically work off hours. Think about it, most home buyers work 9-5's on week days so they are going to want to do their shopping on weekends or on off hours. 

Finally, if you do decide to go to college i would suggest finance/business. Another alternative to your college route could be that you go part time? There are plenty of these options available for people with jobs or kids or whatever, so you could take advantage of it and chip away at that degree but still devote the majority of your time to your investments.

Okay, done ranting for the time being, but I've put a lot of thought and research into this and i hope that its coming across. I'm counting down till the day i turn 18, as the hoops i have to jump through being a minor is unbelievable. I don't even turn 17 till December. Ugh. Well let me know if you have any more questions.

Hey, how's it going? I live in Troutdale, which is a Portland suburb. Nice to run into local investors.

Hate to say it but compared to what it was the place is actually starting to look live-able. Looking forward to the after pictures.

You mentioned you were avoiding wholesaling because it was a fannie mae foreclosure? Well if you only have the property contracted like you said and not actually bought, then you would not be selling the property but merely walking away from the contract and assigning it to someone else for a pre-arranged fee. Since you never owned the property your not selling it, and therefore the 120% rule holds no ground.

Good job, but going on what you've said, has it occurred to you it may be better to wholesale the deal? You said its still under contract, right? Well in the post above you mention being a little low on capital, and in a rehab you always want capital to spare cause there is very frequently unexpected costs. Also, since you have no real experience yet, you could ask the rehabber you assign the deal to if he would be willing to let you shadow the project for the sake of learning.You could probably wholesale this deal for about 8k, leaving the investor 30k in potential profit. Also, you mention that your ARV is a bit conservative? Well with us being in a rising real estate climate there are subtle ways to maximize value and get more for a property than you usually would that most professional rehabbers know, which would be something else you can question them about. If your dead set on a rehab, then good luck, but this is my two sense, especially since a full time rehabber could probably finish on a house like the one you described in a few weeks. I wish you the best either way.

Some states are a bit stricter, but as pretty much national law you can kick someone out of your property, with reasonable notice, just because you want the property or you don't like them. When it comes down to it, it is YOUR property. That being said, i would wait until this legal storm has passed as its better not to add fuel to the fire, but they would be well within their rights not to seek to renew the lease.